What motivates someone to keep toiling away in this mortal realm is an odd thing. Some just run on autopilot, content to stay in whatever lane life has for them. Others are driven, choosing their lanes, constantly changing. So on and so forth. What was Alison's greatest challenge since awakening in her second lease on life was this core issue. She used to be driven and had a purpose, but all that was gone now, left behind in a wrecked SUV on I-95. The country she struggled so hard for was now but a distant memory. Thus, Alison had fallen into the former. She never felt all there; she still felt like she was in a dream. The horrors seen infiltrating "The Library," the evil armies undead marching across the land. These past few weeks, Alison was... not there. 

Thus, for the first time, to those who may have paid close attention, there was finally a small light behind those blue eyes. It felt as though the whole of that past, every experience since she stumbled out of that coffin in the woods, rushed into her at once. The sensations, the memories, the pain—it all came back to her from the simple words spoken by the young woman before her. 

A genuine smile crossed Alison's face for the first time in a long, long time. Her features softened. "From what I can gather, we all arrived around the same time. Coffin, right? I was dropped in the middle of the wilderness and had to find my own way for a while. It's a real relief to meet someone like me. Well, sorta, " Alison said with a soft laugh. 

Based on her voice and the way she spoke, MacKensie was French. All the more strange with her accent. It was certainly of a more southern dialect. She seems to speak the normally silent vowels, the inflection on certain words. It was more difficult, as they were both speaking the common tongue, but it was a solid guess to Alison's trained ear. "I take it from somewhere in Southern France? Probably more towards the Alpine border. Can't place the specific, but I've worked in the Southern Med enough back in our world to have an ear for it. Sorry, I have a knack for this sort of thing. It comes with my trade. But to answer your question, as far as I know, I couldn't tell you. Thanks to my friend Pete here, I only learned of what you all are recently." Alison said, gesturing to her companion, who had politely stood back. 

Pete gave his trademark toothy grin and a nod. "Pleasure to meet ya girl, ole boss here was all mopy like thinkin she was the only one. Glad to see my info paid of nice like. Speakin of boss, ya owe me now!" he said clapping Alison on the back. She shook him off and gave a non commital wave, but Alison was already thinking of a way to pay him back. 

Septimus gave his trademark grunt of disinterest and shut down the system. "I'll leave you two to your little reunion," he said dryly as he started to walk off. Alison called after him.

"Thanks again, old man. Tell that queen of yours that those coffee grounds were worth it. Oh, and to cut your pay in half, terrible customer service." she said as he left. He gave a dismissive grunt and waved his hand, mumbling curses under his breath. "He's a difficult asshole but reliable. His wife is a real sweetheart, though, with all smiles and apple pies. With the siege on, I doubt we'll see more of them for a while."

MacKensie spared him a brief glance before turning excitedly back to Alison. "How have you been, umm?" the question hung in the air. 

"Alison, Alison Walker," she said, extending a hand. Old habits died hard. A less than zero chance of telling her real name would have any consequence here, but it was the name she kept on giving. "And frankly, terrible. The kind of crap I've had to put up with getting here..." Alision trailed off with a shared shiver with Pete. 

As far as Alison could tell, MacKensie seemed excited to meet someone like her. Now that she had a closer look, she could tell she was definitely on the younger side. A bit of sadness crept in from that, someone still with so much ahead of them ending up here. If it was anything like what had happened to her, it meant that potential was taken from their world. 

"You simply must meet the rest of us." MacKensie said with an eager tone. 

"I'm hoping you, me, and the rest of you can figure out why we're here, what we're doing, and how the hell any of this makes sense. It's been a while since I've been to church or brushed up on my theology, but I don't remember anywhere in the bible or otherwise saying the afterlife was anything like this. Let's put our heads together and figure this out. Or, at the very least, survive this siege. Hell of a distraction to put up with while trying to solve this problem." Alison agreed, "Lead the way."

[@Zool]